Messages

2011

General Discussion / Re: Post your desktops

« on: July 20, 2010, 02:01:50 AM »

Macbook Pro with 7 Ultimate.

2012

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: July 19, 2010, 08:39:58 PM »

All my governor is doing is laying off teachers, which is terrible, because even special ed class sizes will be increasing now and less courses will be offered. Plus fees will be charged for extra-curricular activities. I hate Chris Christie because not only he's FAT, but he's CARELESS! Bring back Corzine!

Sadly the special ed classes are actually a major hindrance for my school system. There are too many of them and rather than reduce those amounts and cut excess positions, critical core teachers are being cut. In fact there are more special ed teachers then math and english teachers at my previous high school. Its ridiculous.

2013

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: July 19, 2010, 07:20:14 PM »

Summer vacations now aren't what they used to be years ago.  It used to be from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but no one will be seeing it again.  Although once you get a job, you don't get any long breaks, so enjoy it while you can.

lol.. By the time my kids will be in school when I have them and they're old enough, there probably won't be any summer break at all seeing how slowly our summer vacations are getting shorter and shorter every year it seems like.

Actually public school hours usually don't increase. My school system has a required 180 days. Some budget hurting areas are opting for longer school days and less actual days in school. Saves money on food and gas.

2014

Questions, Comments, Suggestions / Re: New Local Across The 48's Coming?

« on: July 19, 2010, 07:09:20 PM »

How else would it be done?

Organization, planning, publishing on my end

2015

Questions, Comments, Suggestions / Re: New Local Across The 48's Coming?

« on: July 19, 2010, 06:54:59 PM »

We are working on some changes on how these are done and published to the site. If we only do it when the IS2 goes national it will be close to October perhaps. I doubt the IS2 will be released very fast

2016

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: IntelliStar 2 Beta Launch

« on: July 19, 2010, 06:53:15 PM »

Same thing with the damn cell phone networks and internet speeds. Coverage and speeds in Europe are amazing.

And incoming calls/text messages are free.  It kills me knowing I have to pay in the United States even when I'm the recipient.

Ugh I know!Text Messages Cost $1310 per Megabyte. Its crazy We have gone way off topic but I like it

2017

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: IntelliStar 2 Beta Launch

« on: July 19, 2010, 06:31:39 PM »

What goes around comes around.  Europe was a decade and a half behind the U.S. in adopting color television, and some European countries didn't get color until the 1980s.  On the other hand, the U.S., specifically for the reasons mentioned above, is barely adapting HD technology.

Same thing with the damn cell phone networks and internet speeds. Coverage and speeds in Europe are amazing.

2018

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: July 19, 2010, 03:27:06 PM »

I think all of you have brain damage or something Summer has been FLYING BY!

It definitely has. While I do want it going by so I can see my friends again, I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Wow... I just noticed I have about 7 more weeks of my summer left... it did go by quicklly But, I am going to enjoy these last few weeks of summer. I'm going to LA and Philly

I go back to school in 2 weeks 

8/12's the day for me...

Sheesh thats early!

2019

Programming / Re: Couple of videos

« on: July 19, 2010, 02:11:43 PM »

WHOA! Jim Cantore used to have HAIR! 

LOL JK.

It blew off in all of the storms he has covered over the years

2020

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: IntelliStar 2 Beta Launch

« on: July 19, 2010, 01:12:15 PM »

I used to live in Europe, so I speak from personal experience.  In countries that have already abandoned SD, cable companies don't offer a choice of SD and HD channels.  You get only HD channels, which your own equipment will then downconvert to SD.  TV programs generally aren't framed to be "SD friendly," as they are in the United States, and the really important aspect is that most Europeans receive television broadcasts not by cable or satellite, but by antenna.

As for your claim of 5% HDTV service in 2008, I don't know what your source is, but it completely contradicts what I personally experienced.  Around that time I was in Russia, Finland, Estonia, and the UK, and saw a lot more than 5% HDTV penetration.

As for the Intellistar, yes, it's seven years old, but what does that really matter?  Not only is SD supposed to be becoming obsolete,  but the XL, 4000, and Jr. are still plugging away, and no one's talking about a major overhaul for them.  In fact, the 4000 never had a major overhaul, unless you count the transition from text-only to graphics very early on, the change from static to animated radar, and then the change in the TWC logo.  That's all, and they took place a long, long time ago.

http://hd.engadget.com/2008/03/05/just-5-of-europes-hdtv-owners-watch-hd-programming/

Europe and US are two very different regions when it comes to technology as I am sure you are aware. The technology used to transmit the signal is flexible enough to support such large data loads. Here the cable companies (and certainly not the government) will never be willing to implement mass changes in how media is delivered. Verizon and AT&T are pumping money into fiber, the rest of the cable companies are desperately upgrading their technology to keep up. In fact the government wants to completely scrap OTA to free up spectrum as outlined in the Broadband Plan. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/02/tv-stations-asked-to-yield-500mhz-of-spectrum-for-broadband.ars

When it comes right down to it.... no it doesn't matter too much for the Intellistar but you have to factor in one important thing.... $$$$$! The XL still had great untapped potential as we have seen from such users as cc17926 who have modified it to do some amazing things (see youtube). The IS had only marginal software gains when it launched. The Weather Channel has a quite extraordinary amount of these units out there. Its a big money making part of TWC and they are going to keep with it! Same reason as Apple releases another marginal upgrade in iPod/iPhone each year. The older stars are only around for those select headends that didn't want to make the upgrade. Most will as seen before.

The fact is in the United States, SD is farrrrrrr from over! Our huge geographic region, monopolistic cable companies, and limits in technology will prevent an all HD transition.

2021

General Discussion / Re: The Front Porch

« on: July 19, 2010, 02:36:13 AM »

I think all of you have brain damage or something Summer has been FLYING BY!

2022

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: IntelliStar 2 Beta Launch

« on: July 18, 2010, 10:06:27 PM »

Does the I2 use FreeBSD and PC hardware like the IntelliStar does?

I am under the impression it uses a completely different program platform. I wouldn't be surprised if we see the next Intellistar SD built on a similar type of platform in the future

Why would there be a next generation Intellistar SD, or any new SD system, for that matter?  The day will eventually come when SD is just fazed out altogether.

It's interesting... in Europe, when the HD transition takes place, it takes place.  Anyone with an SD TV set can, with a converter or SD cable box/satellite receiver, still watch channels, but they're always presented in widescreen format.  The U.S., however, is stuck in some kind of limbo, where there have to be separate SD and HD feeds for everything, which usually means the widescreen HD picture is little more than a square SD picture with "wings" on either side, usually filled with "runoff" from the center part of the screen.  I hope the U.S. will someday catch up and make widescreen actually widescreen.  Very few U.S. cable/satellite networks do that right now - Fox News and CNBC are the two examples that come to mind off the top of my head.

What are you talking about? HD transition? Can you link me to any such program? Heck in 2008 according to a report on 5% of HDTV owners in Europe had HDTV service. I think you are completely wrong about SD. Its going to be around for a long long long time. First off cable companies make extra money by having "HD" packages. Second it is physically impossible currently for any cable operator to have every SD channel in HD. There isn't enough bandwidth to support it on the cable lines. Considering the Intellistar is nearly 7 years old, its clear the hardware is becoming dated and can't be expected to last too many more years. Granted I am not saying expect a new Intellistar next year but down the road there is bound to be another unit.

2023

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: July 18, 2010, 08:02:08 PM »

Well, not using the video wall could save some energy, but unless its on and nobody is using it wouldn't be very good since they are supposed to be a eco friendly/green channel.

Its always on i think. Haha yea I don't think they care about being eco friendly

2024

IntelliStar 2 Discussion / Re: IntelliStar 2 Beta Launch

« on: July 18, 2010, 07:57:55 PM »

Does the I2 use FreeBSD and PC hardware like the IntelliStar does?

I am under the impression it uses a completely different program platform. I wouldn't be surprised if we see the next Intellistar SD built on a similar type of platform in the future

2025

TWC Today News / Re: New Music Section

« on: July 18, 2010, 06:47:58 AM »

To be clear any of the above links are access to the raw file database. The official pages are located here and now have been reflected in the twctodayforums.com navigation
https://twctodayforums.com/index.php?page=music/monthly